Western Mail Letters: Tuesday, 19 August, 2014

Your letters to the national newspaper of Wales

SIR – Frack-happy David Cameron claims the technology is completely benign and harmless. If this is the case, why did the UK government feel the need to censor a recent report entitled “Shale Gas: Rural Economy” with 63 separate sections blacked out?

The fact that the report predicted a negative impact on house prices may have been a major factor, but sections dealing with the impact on economic, social and local service factors were also heavily censored!

If the UK Government feels it has to censor basic information, why does the Welsh Government continue to follow their reckless policy?

Not only are legitimate public concerns over environmental and public safety issues not addressed, but through its unrestrained enthusiasm – including generous subsidies for fracking – the Westminster Con-Dems totally disregard the negative impact on the essential development of renewables, to say nothing about the negative impact on climate change.

John Childs

Quarry Road, Treboeth, Swansea

Labour’s inverse Robin Hood politics

SIR – It really is disingenuous of Nigel Dix (Letters, August 14) to keep lambasting the Westminster Government over Welsh funding.

Last year the nasty Tories gave the Labour Bay of Plenty extra cash to ensure there would be no rise in council tax in Wales. The Labour Assembly decided the money would be better spent on “alternative issues”, or vanity projects to you and me. The result was an average 4.2% increase in 2014 in council tax across Wales.

Scotland is in the seventh year of council tax freezes, in England the average council tax rose 0.6%. The size of the extra funding from the evil Tories was £50m. Why, given the Labour Party’s refusal to pass the extra money to local government this year, should Westminster repeat the gesture?

Council tax in Blaenau Gwent, the poorest borough in Wales is £1,371; in the richest borough in the UK, Westminster, it is £680. Why must we all suffer because Wales votes Labour?

If Labour in Caerphilly has any extra money, will they spend it on public services? Given their record it’s very unlikely: unlawful pay awards – not recovered: unlawful car allowances – not recovered; unlawful holiday payments – not recovered. Day centres, leisure centres, public toilets and on and on the list goes, all unnecessary to the very, strange socialists in Labour’s Caerphilly.

Indeed Labour in Caerphilly managed to underspend by £9.6m in 2013-14, while cutting services, despite the careful budgeting. Very, very strange socialists indeed.

Labour displays an inverse Robin Hood politics – rob the poor of services, to allow corporate greed to flourish. But blame it all on the nasty Tories, and hope no one notices the truth.

Graham Simmonds

Grange Hill, Blackwood

Councils need to protect our money

SIR – The Chief Executive of Pembrokeshire County Council is now on “gardening leave” and being paid more than £4,000 a week and the Chief Executive, Deputy Chief Executive and Head of Legal Services at Caerphilly are being paid more than £7,000 a week while awaiting trial on charges of “misconduct in public office”.

Certain payments to all these men have been declared to have been “unlawful” by the Wales Audit Office.

Mr Parry-Jones of Pembrokeshire County Council has also been accused by Mr John Evans, a well respected businessman, of using threats and intimidation while he was carrying out his public duty and investigating a suspected property fraud.

Where are the councillors who were elected to represent the people on these “public bodies” and why have those councillors allowed all this to occur and, seemingly to continue, without even attempting to recover one penny.

Just as the “big banks” were considered “too big to fail” some council employees seem to be considered too powerful to be dealt with by elected councillors.

Why is the Welsh Assembly Government doing nothing to protect the public money provided to councils and intended to fund essential public services.

These councils in future should fly the “Jolly Roger” over their offices.

Clive Payne

Central Avenue, Blackwood, Caerphilly

Benefits of knowing extra languages

SIR – The Western Mail has in the past included letters setting out the advantages of being able to speak Welsh as an aid to mastering other languages and I wonder whether the following example from one hundred years ago suggests that it has always been the case.

On August 12, 1914 the 1st Battalion The South Wales Borderers, including my father, 10834 Private Alfred Hullah, landed at Le Havre as part of the British Expeditionary Force.

The official regimental history recounts their reception as follows: “The troops received the warmest of welcomes from the inhabitants and were soon on the friendliest terms with them despite the minor difficulty of the language. A mixture of Welsh and Hindustani seemed to be easily understood and the Quartermaster’s fluent Arabic, a relic of Egypt in the ’Nineties was equally successful in producing the desired results.”

There was, however, little time for the troops to develop their new-found linguistic skills as within two days of landing they were moving up to the frontline at Mons where they met the overwhelming might of the massed German armies and where all-too-many brave Welshmen made the ultimate sacrifice in the carnage of the battlefields of Flanders.

They are now commemorated by the new memorial at Langemark in Belgium.

David Hullah

Holly Grove, Lisvane, Cardiff

How battlefields explain battles

SIR – On behalf of the Welsh Battlefields Society, I was pleased to see the announcement of the new book on Welsh Battles. The Society has visited many battle field sites since 2007 when it was established.

The study of battlefields involves a combination of as many tools as possible, from documentary records, folklore, place names, and an understanding of military tactics. The combination of these disciplines has enabled the Society to refine our knowledge of Welsh Battles considerably, and to come to understand how and why many of these battles were fought.

It is a very interesting field of study and we have a number of members who take part in field visits, as for example our excursion to Pwlldyfarch and Abertywi, two battlefields in Carmarthenshire, which we visited yesterday on Sunday.

SIR – It is normal to feel pride in achieving more than we believed we could, or admiring those who have achieved more than we could. However, this should not be the case when the former induces arrogance or the latter turns into hero worship, both of which helped to transform the likes of Jimmy Savile into monsters, aided and abetted by celebrity magazines and toe-curling, condescending chat shows.

Surely, in the 21st century we are mature enough to realise show business is just another occupation, so to excel in it does not mean they somehow acquire additional attributes.

Brian Christley,

Bryn Gwyn, Abergele, Conwy

What chance of the Severn tolls trebling?

SIR – In the last General Election the Lib Dems campaigned for the abolition of university tuition fees. When they entered government, those tuition fees were trebled.

They now pledge to abolish Severn Bridge tolls if they are part of the next UK government.

Should we therefore assume that if the LibDems get into government again that Severn Bridge tolls will treble?

Cynog Dafis

Cedrwydd, Llandre, Bow Street

Sanctuary for persecuted Christians

SIR – Our so-called representatives in Parliament must be the most duplicitous people in Britain.

They eagerly grant asylum to foreign criminals such as extremists, rapists, murderers, thus destabilising the country.

Conversely, they refuse sanctuary to persecuted Iraqi Christians.

Hugh Jones

Deepwood Close, Cardiff

UNHRC unlikely to be fair and balanced

SIR – Expecting the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to carry out a fair and balanced investigation of anything involving Israel in its defence against the Hamas terrorists is like asking the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation to carry out an investigation into the horrific persecutions of Christians world-wide – do not hold your breath.

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